Participants in the meeting of the interdepartmental working group on the development of the financial market, organized by the Volga-Vyatka State Administration of the Bank of Russia, included representatives of Rospatent, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), JSC SME Corporation, SME Bank, as well as representatives of regional ministries and departments. The Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR) was represented by director Alexander Smekalin and project manager Dmitry Mitroshin.
A pilot project for lending to entrepreneurs engaged in knowledge-intensive businesses and modern technologies began to be implemented in Moscow last year. It makes it possible to obtain loans of up to 50 million rubles secured by development rights.
In the case of innovative projects at the start, entrepreneurs often have almost no resources other than truly innovative ideas, so it is difficult for them to attract financing. The proposed project provides an opportunity to monetize intellectual property (IP) and achieve tangible results.
According to the meeting participants, the interim results of the project provide grounds for replicating it in the regions. Financing secured by intellectual property increases its value and encourages investors to invest in intangible assets.
The terms of the project are attractive for business - low compared to the market rate, convenient time frames and other preferences. However, like any new financial instrument, the project requires improvement.
It is worth noting that an alternative mechanism for implementing this project has been developed in Nizhny Novgorod, it was approved at the meeting and will probably be allowed to be tested. There is an agreement to launch a project for lending to small and medium-sized businesses secured by the results of intellectual activity between Mordovia, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and Rospatent. Testing the project in pilot mode will allow market participants to develop the competence to handle such assets.
The head of AIRR, Alexander Smekalin, considers the opportunity to receive preferential loan funds secured by rights to the results of intellectual activity to be a truly important and necessary government initiative. However, in his opinion, there are restrictions that do not allow all willing regions to take part in the project.
“According to the information we have, there are serious restrictions on the capitalization of funds for participation in the pilot project. We are talking about an amount of 700 million rubles. We have a proposal to reduce it to 300 million rubles. This will allow many more regions to be involved in the project – according to preliminary estimates, about 70,” said Alexander Smekalin.
There also remains a need to mitigate project risks at the legislative level and develop a market for the sale of collateral in the form of IP. A key issue for lenders and banking regulators is the liquidity of such collateral.
“If guarantee organizations in the regions begin to issue guarantees secured by intellectual property, they will form a database of IP objects, as is already being done in Moscow. In the future, we can obtain a unified data register,” noted the director of AIRR Alexander Smekalin.
Following the meeting, it is planned to develop additional measures to develop lending to technology and innovative companies and replicate the results of the pilot project.